Cooling apparatus.



No. 891,020. PATENTED JUNE 16, 1908. G. T. VOORHEES.

. COOLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23, 1902.

l WWW GARDNER TUFTS VOORHEES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

COOLING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 16, 1908.

Application filed April 23, 1902. Serial No. 104,324.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, GARDNER TUFTS VooR- nuns, citizen of the United 'States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful 1m rovements in Cooling Apparatus, of Whic the following is a specification.

The isometric drawin shows my invention, the front of the cooling chamber having been removed.

In existin apparatus for coollng air by contact with iquid surfaces or cooling liquids by contact with air, such-as water towers and air coolers, I have found numerous objec-' tions arising from the fact that the liquid resented its surface tothe air by either flowmg like rain through the air .or flowing in a vertical or nearly vertical direction over surfaces, such as pipes, wood, cloth, sheet metal etc.

One of the ob'ections is that the downward flow of the liquid due to gravitation is too rapid. If a number of these surfaces are supposed to have equal quantities of liquid flowing over them, the uestion of re lation of the flow of the liquid is extremely ifiicult. As a result, some of the surfaces get too much liquid over them, and others do not get nearly enough. The liquid surface is so variable that the work of cooling, is variable also. Again, the downward flow of the liquid is so rapid that there is hardly time to do the required cooling before the liquid has left the surface.

In the process of artificial refrigeratiom'it is becoming a well known fact that the most successful way to cool-rooms, buildin s,'cold storage Warehouses, theaters, acking ouses, etc. is to have the air'coole in achamber outside of the room orspace to be so cooled, and to circulate the air so cooled in the space to be cooled. This air is circulated either by natural or artificial circulation. lhe earliest method of cooling this air was to pass it over coils of pipe that were cooled by cold brine or ammonla circulated in them. These pipes would accumulate much frost and thereby obstruct thepass'age of air. Then it was discovered that if brine was allowed to trickle over the outer surfaces ,of these pipes it would keep the pipes free from frost, and

also kee the air drier than heretofore; This met od is used extensively to-day, but owing to the great expense of the pipe coils,

their valves, and. connections, new methods are coming into use whereby the vpipes are doneaway with and vertical surfaces of cloth, boards, coke, sheet iron etc. are used to formsurfaces on which to conduct the brine which has beenpreviously cooled, and

which after passing over these surfaces is recooled and again passed over the surfaces.

In order to regulate the flow of the brine V with any degree of nicety many regulating valves must be governed which'require resetting upon change in quantity of brine circulated or from sto page due to foreign matter. These meth o s require great attention and much apparatus to regulate properly the flow over these surfaces.

Now the object of my invention is to provide means to overcome the difliculties pre sented by these methods. In the drawing illustratin my invention, A is a body of air which mayie indefinite, as all out doors, or which may be confined in any kindof an inclosed space in any building or structure of any description.

Bis the cooling chamber.

C,,, C are shallow pans or supports containing water, brine or other liquid.

D and E are 0 enin s or flues connecting space A with coo ing 0 amber B.

d and e are movable dampers in cooling chamber B.

0, 0 ,0 are the bottom exposed surfaces of pans C, C C Each of these surfaces is shown-by a heavy black line at the bottom of each an, and may be madeof insulating material to. revent or check the flow of heat through sai surfaces.

F is a fan to aid the circulation of air and may be located in either the sup ly or discharge end of the cooling cham er. It is here shown in the discharge end of the cooling chamber.

G is a liquid tank.

H is a liquid pump.

J. 's an apparatus in which the liquid is cooled or heated; and and 7', are pipes conveying the heating or cooling medium to and from J.

If water is cooled the quantity in the system will diminish by eva oration. The loss will be made up by addition of water to system through pipe 9. If air is cooled the brine in the system will be weakened by the addition of water condensed from the air.

The brine can be partially drawn ofi from through pipe 5 to upper time to time through pipe 9,; and may be strengthened and then returned to system through pipe g.

The operation of the apparatus as a water cooler is as follows: -Water is pumped from tank G, through pipe 1, 2, to pump H, then 3 to heater J, which may be of any desire description, as an ammonia-or steam condenser, etc. Then through pi e 4, 5, to-upper pan 0. .Here the water through an O, as shown by the small arrows, an out through pipe 6, 7, to pan C and through pan 0, and pipe 8, 9 to pan 0,, and then through an C and pipe 10, 11 to tank- G. The airf fom space Ais sucked by fan F through the opening D into the coolin chamber B over the water surface presente by the pans, thereby evaporating some of the water and so coollng it, and then the air passes out again into space A. The lar e arrows show t e flow of air; The air co d enter flue E and flow down over the pans and out flue D if desired, which would be the natural way to circulate it if the fan F were dispensed with. Dampers d agd canlbe...

opened to the positiiiifijshdw n in the dotted lines, and then the air will divide and go straight throu h the spaces between the'pans without doub ing. This may be desirable for large q viantities of' air when its humidity is great. Vhenever the Wordwater'is-used I mean any h uid that can be used as a medium to be coo ed by evaporation by the air. The relative'locations of tank, pump, heater and cooling chamber are not important and may be varied. The pans may take the place of the tank, and t e heater may be located in one or more of the pans if so desired.

The operation of the apparatus to cool air is as follows :.Brine is pum ed from tank G through pipe 1, 2 to pump then through pipe 3 to brine cooler J, then through pi e4, an 0, Here the brine ows through pan as shown by the small arrows, and out through pipe 6, 7 to pan C then through pan C and pipe 8, 9 to pan 0,, and through pan 0, and pipe 10, 11 to tank G. The exposed bottoms'c, 0,, 0,, of pans O, C, may be of heat insulating material to pre vent the formation of frost thereon, as is the case when the liquid is below 32 Fah. should liquid be above 32 Fah. the bottom may be of heat conducti material. The air from space A is sucked y fan F through the opening D into cooling chamber B over the cold brine surfaces resented by the pans, where the air is cooled and flows out again into space A. The large arrows show the flow 0 air. The air could enter flue E and OWS ' cooler, cooling may be cooled by any desired means for example, a brine coil, ice, or any refrigerating machine. Dampers-d and e can be opened to the positions shown in the dotted lines andthen the air will divide and go straight through the s aces between the axis without doubling. T 's may be desirable for large quantitiesof air to prevent undue friction through the coolin chamber. so the brine may be made to 50w through only one pan before returning to the tank by opening valves 12 and 13. Whenever the word brine is used I meanany liquid that can be used as a medium to cool the air.

The relative locations of tank, pum chamber and Y space to e cooled are not lmp'ortant'and ma The ansmayiakethe ace of t e tank, and the rine'eooler may e located in one or more of the pans, if so desired, or the space 0 be cooled may be above the cooling cham- It is understood that the liquid surface must be enough out of level for the liquid to flow over the supports. Whenever I use the word approximately level liquid surface I mean that the li uid surface shall only be so much out of love that the upper surfaces of the supports are not expose to the air but are covered by the-liquid.

What I claim is I In a cooling apparatus, a series of supports in. tiers, whose upper surfaces are adapted to be entirely covered by a liquid; the exposed uudersurfaces of these su ports being insulatedfrom the liquid su aces above them; suitable liquid outlets and inlets for said supports whereby the liquid can flow from the upper support to the bottom support; means whereby the liquid may be'ca'used to flow from the lower support to the upper support; a heat transferring device to contact with this liquid; means to circulate air between the supports and liquid surfaces, so as to cool said air. In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GARDNER TUFTS VOORHEES.

Witnesses:

GENEVIEVE BoLenR, JOHN J. Mornrrmu. 

